Neighbours Elly Dowson and Christine Liber in Toronto's Wychwood neighbourhood were tired of the tags that marked most of the garage doors in their laneway.

In Toronto, property owners face fines for having graffiti on their property, even when they're victims of vandalism. Instead of fighting the frustrating bylaw, the friends decided to counter the tags with their own urban art: they covered the graffiti with colourful murals on 21 garage doors between Kenwood Avenue and Wychwood Avenue — with permission from the home owners, of course — turning their laneway into "a living art gallery."

They offered their painting services free of charge. A local paint store donated the paint.

"Painting 21 murals on 21 garage doors in 21 days, they transformed an under-appreciated space into a public gallery and brought a new sense of pride and community to their neighbourhood. Now that spring is here, they're at it again, expanding the initiative into other laneways around their community," the Torontoist's Stephanie Avery writes.